Francesco Bagnaia calls on Ducati to fix GP24 MotoGP start issues “as soon as possible”

Francesco Bagnaia says Ducati needs to fix the starting issues he has been suffering recently “as soon as possible” following another bad launch in the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix.

The double world champion got a rotten launch from fourth on the grid as his GP24 hopped and then spun its rear tyre - though he was quickly able to recover to fourth.

He would go on to finish third, but the bad start plus being “too careful” in the first laps stopped him from being able to challenge Jorge Martin for the win.

Inconsistency in races starts has been an issue that has plagued Bagnaia in recent rounds and it is something he is now calling on Ducati to fix quickly.

“As soon as possible, because in the last two seasons I was always perfect on the start in the last four grands prix since Aragon that I’m starting every time in a different way and every time bad,” Bagnaia, now 21 points away from Martin in the standings, said.

“Today was different than yesterday. Yesterday was not too bad. This morning was good, but this afternoon I wheelied and I spun [the rear].”

He added: “I tried to do the same start as yesterday but the clutch had a different reaction, then I had a little wheelie and the rear started to spin.

“I didn’t lose many positions, but after the start I was a bit too careful in the first laps.

“So, I started to lose positions and I struggled a bit to get back those positions. I was fast, my pace after some laps was very fast - the fastest lap from [Enea] Bastianini was very close to mine.

“So, my pace was very, very strong. But it wasn’t enough to overtake the riders in front of me easily, because I needed 10 laps to overtake [Marco] Bezzecchi because I was struggling a lot with the traction of his bike.

“As soon as I overtook him, Franco [Morbidelli] was much easier because with the same bike as me I knew what to do better.

“Apart from that, I’m happy because more than this today was difficult. We managed to gain points in this race and it’s ok.”

Both Bagnaia and Bastianini appeared to struggle for rear grip in the early stages of the grand prix, with the former dropping back to sixth at one point while Martin was able to power away at the front on his Pramac-run GP24.

Bagnaia believes this is a characteristic of the GP24, in that it struggles for rear grip early on but can be compensated for on braking if you have clean air.

“For me, it’s because when you are in front with no one in front you can compensate with the lack of rear grip with the braking, gaining a lot there,” he explained about his sluggish early laps.

“And if you are behind, you can’t brake hard, you can’t push like you want and the rear tyre is maybe not ready.

“Maybe it’s something with the GP24 that is more like this when you are behind. But after five, six laps I was back on my pace, I was quite strong. But I missed the first five laps.”